Trillium Montessori

Classroom Organization

A Year of Early Language Shelves

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I love the early language development area of my classroom!  There is a lot of foundational work that comes before children are introduced to letters.  Today’s post is about the kinds of activities we have on our pre-literacy or early language Montessori shelves. This is a photo of the Language area of our class (the […]

How to Set Up a Classroom in 48 Hours

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This week’s Classroom Showcase post is not a tour of a classroom but the (brief) story of how I had to set up my space in under 48 hours when we moved to our current location.  These pictures are from 2010. Step 1:   Get Some Efficient Movers Friday Aug 20th 7pm (in the garage) We […]

A Year of Montessori Fine Motor Shelves

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“Practical Life” is a huge area of the Montessori Curriculum.  It’s about giving children opportunities to engage in real everyday activities such as taking care of themselves and their surroundings, preparing food, cleaning up etc.  Real. Life. Stuff. Many Montessori teachers call their fine motor activities Practical Life activities.  I think of them more as […]

Organizing Thematic Units and Seasonal Supplies

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Last month I wrote about how I use a unit studies approach to our “cultural” curriculum.  I love how it has simplified my organization system.  I used to keep my materials categorized by curriculum area.  For example, all the language materials were in one cabinet, all the practical life materials were in one spot, and […]

Organizing Art Supplies

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  Organizing Art Ideas Pinterest is now my organizing tool of choice for all curriculum ideas.  I have a board dedicated just to art, but I tend to add more art pins to my Unit studies boards.  This makes it easier to decide when to use a particular activity. But before Pinterest, I had binders […]

8 Tips for Organizing Practical Life Supplies

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 Woohoo!  Only a Montessori teacher can understand the rush of owning tiny bowls and pitchers and tongs.   In the early days, you think you can’t possibly ever have enough.  And then the day comes when you realize, by golly, you have to stop accumulating them because there’s no room left in the ~ahem~ fourth dimension. […]

Organizing in Four Dimensions

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I have gathered a lot of classroom materials and ideas over the years.  I mean, a lot. I know some of you can relate to this.  I have SO MUCH STUFF.  I feel like a hoarder.  But my classroom does not look like the homes on the hoarding TV shows.  In fact, all my stuff […]

The Evolution of My Montessori Record Keeping System

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I have been working and observing in Montessori classrooms for a good fifteen years now and I’ve seen dozens of different ways to keep track of the mountain of information generated on a daily basis.  I’m also a bit of an information junkie and I collect ideas like they’re about to run out (have you seen my Pinterest boards?!) […]